Don't let kids spend summer days in a screen-induced haze

From: mnn: mother nature network
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23 June 2016
By Angela Nelson

Full title & subtitle:

Don't let kids spend summer days in a screen-induced haze
Those glowing screens are harming their bodies and minds.

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www.mnn.com...
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It’s a common battlefront between parents and children, from toddlers to teens alike. Desperate parents may appease a screaming 2-year-old with a video or game on their phone. And one 13-year-old recently told CNN that when her phone gets taken away, “I literally feel like I’m going to die.”
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The physical effects of screen time

Obesity. Sitting in front of a television or computer is a “sedentary behavior,” the American Medical Association says, which means it doesn’t burn much energy. Considering tweens in the U.S. stare at screens for more than four hours a day and teens up to seven hours, according to Common Sense Media, that’s a lot of sitting. In fact, fewer than four in 10 children meet both the physical activity recommendations and the screen time recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
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[last link in last paragraph here:]

archpedi.jamanetwork.com...
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JAMA Pediatrics
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"Physical Activity and Screen-Time Viewing Among Elementary School-Aged Children in the United States From 2009 to 2010"

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Sleep loss
. . . A 2014 study showed a connection between "excessive screen time and shorter sleep durations [which] are predictive of behavioral and social problems, poorer academic performance, and health conditions such as obesity."
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Hand pain
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Headaches [see Journal of Neurology and Psychology 2016 study]:
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www.avensonline.org...
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Headache in Smartphone Users: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Results: The findings revealed that the headache complaints were significantly higher in the high smartphone users (51%) than the low smartphone users (34.4%) (p=0.02). Duration and frequency of headache attack were higher in the high smartphone users (7.95 ± 5.29 and 8.73 ± 4.31, respectively) than the low smartphone users (4.96 ± 3.36 and 6.15 ± 3.29, respectively) and smartphone non-users (3.50 ± 2.87 and 3.87 ± 1.82, respectively) (p

a reply to: BO XIAN

Shouldn't the title of this be more like:

"Don't let your boss consume all your daylight hours with work, insist that you have the majority of summer to get your kids out of the house and climbing trees, like they should be doing"?

Parents are limited in terms of their freedom, unless they happen to be persons of leisure, not reliant on constant, mind breaking work just to keep the lights on at home. Therefore, well before we figure out what the kids should be doing, we need to understand that parents need to be free to be with their kids.

Surely this, and not the habits of the children, is more of a driver of what goes on during summer, or any other month?

a reply to: TrueBrit

Certainly that is a huge problem of long standing.

It destroys marriages as well as kids.

Just as the oligarchy intended it to do.

Sigh.

Preaching to the choir here. My kids can be watching TV, texting on FB and playing a hand held game at the same time. I mean..... WTF?

a reply to: intrepid

I regularly watch the news, post on ATS, and talk to my chums via Whatsapp all at the same time. My sister gets glued into Facebook and does not come out unless you raise her from the stupor. When someone comes into the room, I generally keep typing but hold eye contact with the entrant, and converse with them while typing.

I am a bit weird though.

a reply to: intrepid

INDEED.

I think that a pile of research could be compiled in 10-20 years (IF things were to remain the same) . . . that would have even more sobering things to show.

There might be a minority of useful things evolve from such but I think the negatives health-wise will outweigh the positives.

Glad I'm not a parent in this era. It would drive me around the bend. LOL.

In terms of the U2U . . . am assuming the answer is no.

originally posted by: BO XIAN
Glad I'm not a parent in this era. It would drive me around the bend. LOL.

What's sad is that all my kids are in their 20's now.

In terms of the U2U . . . am assuming the answer is no.

Sorry. Not my thing.

a reply to: intrepid

No biggy at all. Just wanted to be clear.

My worst case of multi-tasking was . . . about 1979 . . . Downstairs in my psychologist colleague's quarters of a huge old Parish house . . .

It was during the Iran hostage crisis--whenever that was. The TV was on CNN about that, IIRC. And I had a radio bud in my ear with Larry King on the audio. And I was reading a Reader's Digest article . . . and talking with my friend . . . I noticed, at some point, what I was doing . . . amazingly successfully on all counts . . . and thought it was a bit absurd.

I've gpt my 15 year old nephew working on the bag and teaching him some footwork.
He's 6'3" and 230.

Luckily I can't keep my kids inside.
Kids are already requiring eye glasses due to the screens. I forget what they call it, but the docs have name for it.

a reply to: errck

CONGRATS.

Have any tips for other parents on such issues?

A 2014 study showed a connection between "excessive screen time and shorter sleep durations

Hades. It took a study to come up with that ? I AM a living example . All they had to do was ask me.Been gaming in front of screens for (shhhh, dont tell anyone = 35+ years). And still going strong. Gamer till I no longer have any life tokens left
Kept me outta trouble for nearly 4 decades.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Good to see this

I have seen first hand the destruction of screen time, i am in a very unique place to view it from and i will elaborate a little...

You can find early on in my thread history i had a rather nasty encounter with life and the law, to cut a long story short i my ex lied to the cops i was charged and was not allowed to see my son, the idiot mother then lost the child into the system and i had to drop everything and fight to get him out which i did, he was almost 4 years old when i got him, i had not seen him for 2 years and he had been in foster care for almost a year (the court process took a year and the year prior the ex had control)...

So here he is with serious trauma as you can imagine from a child in his position, at first all he wanted to do was watch tv anything else led to massive drama, i slowly weened him off and after a year or so i had his screen time down to a movie after dinner, as he started to respond to routine i was able to start disciplining him by taking away the tv altogether ....

This is where i find it really interesting..he was really happy playing games,he started to color in and then to draw i was able to get him to take an interest in writing, he had large amounts of time away from the screen...i am far from perfect so keeping up this kind of attention to him is difficult.... (it is just me and him and my extended family live on the other side of the world), so there were periods of me letting him have a few hours here and there on the screen and when it came time to turn it off...meltdown...massive meltdown...i started to notice the pattern and to be sure i experimented and paid full attention and sure enough there is a direct link between his meltdowns and screen time.....

So actually this topic says:

Don't ever give curious and thinking kids access to ATS?

Ohw I might want to add, that as single parent I'm really proud of my kiddo, that only has drama with screen when he can't press the pause button soon enough because he wants to get paper and color pencils to recreate the image or drawing he sees at that moment.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

GREAT INTENSE GRAND CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SACRIFICIAL REDEMPTIVE EFFORTS IN YOUR SON'S LIFE!

INCREDIBLE!

The hours you spend in healthy affection and focused attention with him will pay off greatly. It sounds like you got him early enough to begin to rewire his brain from the early RAD devastations.

As you realize, it will take a lot of continued hard work. It sounds like you are up for the task.

I just encourage you to NOT UNDERESTIMATE the value of YOUR PERSON, YOUR TOUCH, YOUR EYE TO SPARKLY EYED INTEREST as communicators of worth, value, love. Very crucial stuff, all that.

It will take a LOT OF VERY LAVISH loving him almost excessively to overcome those early years, imho.

Sounds like you are well on the way. Congrats.

Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: BO XIAN

I appreciate that cheers

The little man is going great guns, a completely different child than he was 2 years ago, he started school this year and has settled in really well...there is still a ways to go with him but he is most definitely on the right track...

Thank you again for your kind words..

a reply to: TrueBrit

I spent a lot of time at the top of a thirty foot high maple tree when I was young. I went camping a lot in a plot of ceder trees up in the hills where I used to live. I loved nature better than civilization.

But I am as nuts as a squirrel, I actually do like nuts too.

originally posted by: errck
Luckily I can't keep my kids inside.
Kids are already requiring eye glasses due to the screens. I forget what they call it, but the docs have name for it.

These LCD monitors are really hard on the eyes. I bought a better one then took twenty one on line classes over the winter and spring. My eyes always seem to hurt. I think there is a conspiracy there somewhere, they want to blind us.

a reply to: rickymouse

Visual display fatigue is not something which only occurs when dealing with CRT monitors, although there are dangers unique to the old style of monitor which do not present themselves when dealing with modern monitors.

45 minutes to an hour with a screen running, should equal fifteen to twenty minutes of rest for the eyes, for best fatigue mitigation.